In the mirror, she smiles
by Xielle
Summary: Stories always starts with 'Once Upon a Time' but where it ends, no one ever truly knows.
1. Just Another Day

**DISCLAIMER: **I have no right to claim Labyrinth and its characters as my own. Etc.

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><p><strong>In the mirror, she smiles<strong>

Stories always starts with_ 'Once Upon a Time'_ but where it ends, no one ever truly knows.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Just Another Day<strong>

– – –

There was no precedent; no warning.

One moment she was sixteen; so sure of herself and ready to take on the world. The lessons from the Labyrinth taken to heart, and her confidence and victory at the forefront of her mind.

The next, she was six, and she didn't have anyone or anything other than her colouring book and a full box of crayons.

Looking closer, it was one of those books where each space was numbered – supposedly to be coloured in with the colours corresponding to the number.

But apparently, she shot that idea hands down. She sat, oblivious to the rules of the book – to the rules of the world – and coloured the owl blue.

Dishivelled from playing around her room – all by herself – and with a smudge of dried jam – from lunch she made on her own – on her cheeks, she gave the owl blue-green eyes.

Dirty, tired, and lonely, she changed her reality the only way she knew _**how**_, and smile equally happy and sad.

With a start, she realized that even at six, she _**wasn't **_oblivious. Her parents made sure of that, whether they wanted to or not.

_An exasparated sigh._

"Cats aren't green, Sarah," her mom scolded once before. "They're white, gray, black, brown, or a mixture of two or more. But _**never **_green, honey. Get that?"

_A nod. She bowed her head so Mommy wouldn't see the tears._

She had been four - almost five.

"Imagination is good and all, Sarah," Daddy said distractedly, "but never purple."

_Why?_ She asked. _Why not?_

"They just aren't- it's that simple. That's just how it is, _understand_, princess?"

_A nod. _

She went to her room to cry, because she didn't understand, and there _**must**_ be something wrong with her if she couldn't get something so _**simple**_.

She cried herself to sleep, that night, and promised to herself that she would try harder to understand.

So she asked. She asked why, so she would _**understand**_.

"_**Why**_ do you keep asking?" Mommy scolded angrily. "You should already know that! I already told you before, _**that's just how it is!**_"

But she didn't know, so at six, she just cried harder, when neither Mommy or Daddy were looking.

She didn't know either, at sixteen, and so she realized that Mom and Dad didn't know either.

But then again, maybe she already knew that, a little bit, at six, because she stopped asking.

But before that...

Before that, she kept asking because...

Because...

A sigh. A swallowed sob.

_**Once upon a time, she dreamed of change.**_

But then, there was no warning; not a single sign.

One moment she was six and full of dreams despite the tears, and sixteen and tired of tears and just waiting to taste the skies.

Then next, she was just sixteen, and she just woke up to get ready for school.

Over the course of the day, Going through the routine motions – eating, sitting at class, walking home – she forgot her dream.

Come the end of the day, she forgot she dreamed at all.

_**Just another day.**_

– – –  
><strong>TBC.<br>07.01.11**

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><p><strong>NOTE: <strong>Unlike with _As the World Falls Down_, I have no idea where this story is going - I mean, I know the general direction of the story, but not how to get there. So updates for this story _WILL_ be slower.


	2. Second Go

****DISCLAIMER: ****I have no right to claim Labyrinth and its characters as my own. Etc.

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><p><strong>In the mirror, she smiles<strong>  
>"Stories begin with<em> 'Once Upon a Time'<em> but where it ends, no one truly knows."

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Second Go<strong>

**– – –**

Twisting this way and that, Sarah slept fitfully.

But through it all, she _**dreamed**_.

_She was two, and she was loved._

It was the first time she saw horses - even if she didn't know what they were, yet - and mommy was holding her close, smiling as daddy took their picture.

"And what a pretty picture it will be!" mommy had said to her.

And she believed her, because she felt very pretty in her flowery dress, with its puffy sleeves, ribbons, and frills! And her pretty sunhat, too!

She had looked up at mommy, then, happy.

Tangled in her blanket from all her turning, still, Sarah slept.

But through it all, she _**remembered**_.

_She was three - almost four - and she's excited to go to school._

"Mommy and daddy can't be with her though," Mommy told her.

She was sad, but Mommy had been gone more and more often, the past couple of weeks, so she had thought that maybe she would be fine. She should be used to it by now, after all...

But that's okay! Mommy gave her a bear. She called him Lancelot.

She missed mommy, but she said that that's just how it is.

Lancelot smiled at her, and if she closed her eyes and concentrated hard enough, she could feel mommy hug her goodnight, when she holds Lancelot.

She looks down at Lancelot, and swallows the tears.

– – –  
><strong>TBC.<br>07.02.11**

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><p><strong>NOTE:<strong>The chapter titles are taken from songs. They don't necessarily set the mood or the tone of the story. I look for the title after I finish the chapter, or at least when I get an idea of what I want to see in the chapter. I take the title that I feel can give an idea of the chapter's main idea.

The title for chapter 1 was taken from the broadway show_ "next to normal"_ which I highly recommend. The title for this chapter is the song (obviously of the same title) by_ Lights_. I own neither of these songs.


	3. Behind These Hazel Eyes

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Labyrinth, or any of its characters, etc. Neither do I own "Behind These Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson.

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><p><strong>In the mirror, she smiles<strong>

"Stories begin with_ 'Once Upon a Time' _but where it ends, no one truly knows."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Behind These Hazel Eyes<strong>

– – –

So the day began, just like yesterday began, as well as the day before yesterday, and further back to the day before that, and so on.

Sarah always promised herself something - _**anything**_- different for the next day.

_And so she continued dreaming._

Even as she was seventeen, and already felt the dead feeling, heard the cry from somewhere deep - _so very deep_, because she kept burying it down, down, _down_ - inside of her. _**It doesn't matter.**_

Still, she dreamt of tomorrow.

Tomorrow came.

It went by – in front of her, _around _her, behind her, and then... – and then it was gone.

_Still, she never stopped wishing._

Even as she was seven, and it's the first time in the longes time ever that Mommy and Daddy are both home for her birthday! It doesn't matter that they were always so busy yesterday, because now she has them all to herself tonight. _**It was all that mattered.**_

_Still, she never started doing._

Even when she was seventeen, crying inside about the things she could have done but didn't, and she was seven, crying about the things she couldn't do on her own.

But in truth, age doesn't matter when it comes to hurting.

So she just cried, neither seventeen nor seven. Just another girl, with tears behind her smile.

She cried for the friends she could've made, other people who would matter to her, as much as she mattered to them.

She cried for the lies she said, the ones she told herself, just to be able to face the day.

She cried for the realizations that came a little too late.

She woke up crying, and she didn't know **_why_**.

– – –  
><strong>TBC.<br>07.02.11**


End file.
